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TSChatWise — Installation

In a recent edition of Totally Unscripted, I discussed TSChatWise … a Google Sheets and Apps Script powered Google Chat bot for teaching and learning.

👉 For an introduction to TSChatWise see TSChatWise — A Google Chat Education Tool.

This post is the second in a TSChatWise “Getting Started” series where I’ll lay out the steps for installing and configuring TSChatWise.

Step 1: Install TSChatWise

To install TSChatWise:

• Login to Google Drive.
• Access the TSChatWise Google Sheets template.
• Click the Use Template button. This will copy the Google sheet template to Google Drive.

Step 2: Create Chat Room(s)

Follow the steps outlined in the Google Chat Room — Create a room documentation to set up a Google Chat room.

👉 TSChatWise can post the same lesson to multiple Google Chat rooms.

👉 Google Chat must be enabled in your domain to setup Google Chat. Check with your Google Workspace Administrator if Google Chat is disabled.

Step 3: Create Chat Room Webhook

Access the Chat Room Webhooks

• Go to Google Chat
• Select the desired Chat room from the left side of the screen
• Select the dropdown for the room name at the top of the screen
• Select Manage webhooks

Enter a Webhook Name

• Enter a webhook name — i.e. TSChatWise
• (Optional) Enter an Avatar URL
• Click Save

👉 Multiple chat bots can provide notifications to a single Google Chat Room. Be sure to use descriptive webhook names to distinguish multiple bots.

Make a Copy of the URL

• Click the Copy button to make a copy of the webhook URL

Step 4: Configure TSChatWise

Diagram 1 — Config sheet

Open TSChatWise template

• Open the TSChatWise Google Sheet copied to your Google Drive during Step 1 above.
• Navigate to the Config sheet (see Diagram 1).

Add Chat Room Webhook URL to TSChatWise Config Sheet

• Under Chat Room Name enter the name of the Chat room from Step 3 above (see Diagram 1).
• Under Chat Room URL enter the Webhook URL copied in Step 3 above (see Diagram 1).

Configure Notifications When Lessons Complete

To be notified when all lessons have been posted to all chat rooms:

• Check the box to the right of Notify By Email When Complete (see Diagram 1).
• Check the box to the right of Email Sheet Editors for all TSChatWise Google Sheet editors & owner to be notified (see Diagram 1).
• (Optional) Check the box to the right of Email Sheet Viewers for all TSChatWise Google Sheet viewers to be notified (see Diagram 1).

Step 5: Test TSChatWise

Select TSChatWise > Test TSChatWise option from the Google Sheet menu. This will send a test message to each configured chat room.

👉 The first time TSChatWise is run it will require authorization. Follow the Google prompts to authorize TSChatWise and then rerun the TSChatWise > Test TSChatWise option again from the Google Sheet menu.

Important Notes About TSChatWise

👉 Multiple versions of TSChatWise can be used to provide notifications to a single Google Chat Room.

👉 A single version of TSChatWise can provide notifications to multiple Google Chat Rooms.

👉 Check the Apps Script Dashboard for execution errors if TSChatWise does not work as expected.

In an upcoming post I’ll discuss how to get started with TSChatWise.

Looking for the code? See the TSChatWise project on Github.

Need help automating workflow inside your G Suite domain? Get in touch

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